Today I went to the gym and did an hour and a half on the arc trainer. I am going to put more miles in on the arc trainer during the week this week instead of at the group run since I will be away in NYC for a family event this weekend and I will be missing the group run.

At Saturday’s group run, I got to talking with some fellow DFMC teammates and one of these teammates is a part of a group of team members who are in remission from cancer and these people are considered living proof from DFCI. This woman battled stage two breast cancer and had a double mastectomy last year. She is now in remission. We got to talking about cancer awareness and about when she was battling cancer she did not want to buy or wear anything associated with pink or a pink cancer ribbon. We got to talking about this since she saw I was selling my breast cancer ribbon running socks at the group run. She said when she was battling cancer that many people came up to her and asked her why she did not wear anything that associated her with the disease and she said it was because she did not want cancer to beat her she wanted to beat cancer. With those thoughts, she beat the disease and on Saturday she bought a couple of pairs of pink socks from me and she said this will be the first time I am sharing my awareness for this disease since I am proud of what I accomplished because I beat cancer and cancer didn’t beat me. She said while she is training for the marathon she will wear these socks while she is running to show her awareness of the disease and the socks will help her persevere though the tough parts of her runs because she will wear them with pride.

Today’s question is related to breast cancer awareness. What ways can cancer patients support awareness of the disease?

Cancer patients can show their awareness of the disease by wearing breast cancer ribbon pins, socks, shirts, earrings, necklaces, and scarfs. If they are well enough they can participate in cancer walks or races such as: Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3 Day walk, Boston Marathon (supporting DFMC), the BAA Half Marathon presented by DFCI, or the Jimmy Fund Walk. All of these components or events show awareness of the disease.

Now I ask you, how do you show awareness for this disease?